The Hindu    17.08.2012

“Charge more for surface parking than multi-level”

Jiby Kattakayam

Devesh K. Pandey

The Environmental Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) presentation on a new parking policy for Delhi before the Lieutenant-Governor on Thursday argued that the rate of parking for surface parking should be kept higher than multi-level parking facilities.

Other suggestions related to pricing made by Ms. Sunita Narain and Mr. Bhure Lal at the meeting on behalf of EPCA were to keep parking rates variable based on peak and non-peak hours, number of hours parked, and different categories of lands and colonies.

They argued that parking rates should be higher for long-term users as this would incentivise short-term users. Rates should also reflect the cost of building parking facilities and the cost of land used up for parking.

It was also suggested that the parking rates be based on categorisation of colonies as identified by the local agencies for property tax and other purposes.

One of the suggestions was to charge Rs.30 for the first hour and Rs.40 for each subsequent hour in pockets where the demand for parking space is very high. However, parking along the road would cost even more, as per the suggestions.

“Parking charges should hurt the pocket”

“The emphasis is on increasing parking charges to a level where it hurts the pocket, discouraging people from using private vehicles,” said an official who attended the meeting. The official said it was also proposed to use the one-time parking charge levied on newly-purchased vehicles -- which presently goes to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi coffers -- directly for the development and upkeep of parking lots. “If vehicle owners are made to pay more, they deserve a better infrastructure, a decent parking space,” said the official.

Raising questions on the efficacy of the proposed system, the official said if the focus was indeed on discouraging use of public parking space, the authorities should rather develop a reliable and efficient public transport system, primarily involving taxis and auto-rickshaws. “If a taxi/auto-rickshaw is made available in time, most people would prefer not using personal vehicles as no one would after all want to pay such high parking charges,” the official added.

The presentation also advocated that para-transport like taxis and auto-rickshaws should not have to pay parking charges which was agreed to by the L-G.

An important ingredient of the presentation was enforcement of parking rules through levying of increased and special penalties under the Municipal Act. They said the current system of towing away vehicles using cranes was not effective.